Professor Layton and the Secret of 420 Corolla St
by Alex A. Matthews
Summary: A frazzled woman arrives at the professor's house late one night, demanding he search for her daughter. The way this woman is talking leads Layton to beleive it's all part of a bigger picture, but just what picture? Rated T for safety
1. Chapter 1

****Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I cannot claim to own any of the persons, places, or objects in the Professor Layton series – all such persons, places, and objects are the property of their owner, Level 5 Inc****. Any resemblance to any real world persons, places, or things is coincidental.** **

* * *

** Professor Layton**

**and the**

** Secret of 420 Corolla Street **

* * *

Luke was just about to answer a quite perplexing puzzle the professor hand told him, when a furious knocking was heard at the door. Layton put up his hand in a sign for Luke to wait, and went to answer the door.

Flora, who was sitting on the couch, hopped up with Luke to see why in the world a crying, panting woman would be at their doorstep.

"Please!-Professor! You have to help me!" the woman wailed.

She had dark brown hair, fair skin, and dark blue eyes-well; they were also red and puffy, seeing as she was crying.

"Madam, if I may ask, what seems to be the matter?" Layton inquired. He gently took hold of her shoulder and brought the distraught woman into his house.

"My daughter-gone!" the woman screeched as she plopped onto the couch. Flora grabbed a few tissues for her. The woman blew her nose quite loudly and continued sobbing into the tissue.

"What's your name, miss?" Luke asked. He gave the woman more tissues. She used those up fast, too. Flora gave Luke the whole box, which Luke plopped onto the woman's lap.

"M-Miss Rachel M-Matthews," she warbled. "And my daughter was-"

"Alex Matthews," Layton said.

"How did you know?" Miss. Matthews sniffled.

"You and your husband are no unfamiliar figures in London. Your mass bookstore franchise is very famous among my students- and everyone else, for that matter," Layton explained.

"And your daughter has her fair share of fame as well!" Luke chimed in.

"Yes, quite," Layton sighed. He walked into the kitchen and came out with two cups of tea in his hand. He handed one to Miss Matthews and sipped quietly from the other one himself. "But, ma'am, we hardly know anything about your daughter. If you want us to find her, which I am assuming is the case; we need some information on what she looks like, how she acts…"

Flora shuffled out of the room and came back with a pad of paper to write notes. She and Luke turned to face the professor.

"Professah, why don't you leave this to the police? It's their job to solve these kind of cases," Luke whispered. Flora nodded her head in agreement. "What do you see in this we don't?" Luke asked.

"Luke my boy, I honestly don't know. But things don't seem right. This case has piqued my interest, and I shall dig deeper."

"Well, Mr. Layton, she had black hair, always dying part of it purple before I or Robert had time to notice. She let her bangs grow long and now they cover part of her eyes. You may think my little Alex is rebellious, but she was very sweet, funny, and helpful," Miss. Matthews said. Her hands fidgeted on her lap while she was talking.

Layton smiled and nodded, as any good gentleman-detective would do. "Thank you, madam. Do you think you could tell us about anything that happened when Alex was…"

"Abducted, captured, kidnapped, whatever you want to call it," Rachel snarled. "They took my little girl just a few hours ago. Robert was upstairs in the lavatory, and I was downstairs finishing supper. I heard a shatter, and Alex screamed. I rushed upstairs as fast as I could, but I was too late…." the rest of Miss Matthews's words were held back by tears.

Layton knew this was going to be a hard subject to get information on. And a gentleman does not press a lady for answers, even when he is helping them to solve a kidnapping.

"Professah, shouldn't we go to their house and check for clues?" Luke murmured. Flora put down the pad and paper, nodding in agreement yet again.

"Hm…yes, good idea Luke," Layton said, almost to himself. "Mrs. Matthews, would it be ok with you if we checked your house for any clues of what happened?" Layton asked.

Rachel allowed a ghost of a smile to be seen. "Yes, thank you Mr. Layton! That would be most helpful indeed!" she replied. She took a piece of paper from the pad and wrote down her address, 420 Corolla Street. It was very close to the professor's house.

"Thank you ma'am, we shall be there tomorrow morning as early as possible," Layton smiled. He and Luke ushered the slightly happier lady out of the house.

"What do you think is going on, professor?" Flora asked as Layton and Luke came back to the living room. She folded up the address and put it in the pocket of her skirt.

"This is certainly no ordinary kidnapping," Layton sighed. "That much is obvious to me now. But, I believe we all need to rest. See you two bright and early tomorrow."

Luke and Flora nodded and walked up to their rooms. The professor started at the door a little longer. This was going to be another of those crazy mysteries he always seemed to get himself caught up in.

The next morning, after a small breakfast, the trio departed to 420 Corolla Street in the Laytonmobile. Of course, 420 Corolla was so close they could have walked the few blocks, but in the morning no one likes to walk, even short distances.

Upon arriving at the house, Luke noticed a small police car. "Professah, she called the police as well!" Luke exclaimed. "Why would she need _two _groups working on this case?"

Layton grimaced. "She probably is worrying so much about her daughter, she thinks the other might not be able to find her, and needs another person to help…." Layton trailed off. The truth was, he honestly didn't know.

Flora poked Luke and pointed to a mustached bobby hurrying into the house. "Don't we know him?" she whispered.

Luke gasped and ran up the sidewalk, straight inside. "Inspector Chelmey's here!" he exclaimed.

Flora ran after Luke, and a flabbergasted professor ran after her. How did he always wind up seeing Chelmey in this sort of thing?!

Once inside, Chelmey looked just as surprised to see the professor as he was to see the inspector.

"Ah! Layton! What are you doin' here?!" Chelmey asked. He continued looking back-and-forth between Layton, Luke and Flora with wide eyes.

"Mrs. Matthews asked us to help her find her daughter," Layton replied calmly.

"The woman called us here for the same reason…." Chelmey growled. "Well, I can't help it this time. Just stay outta my way." Chelmey and his bobby, Barton, loped away.

Before anyone could say anything else, Miss Matthews walked in. "Oh, thank heavens you're hear as well, Mr. Layton!" she exclaimed. "Robert isn't here right now, he's at work. But you can talk to him later on tonight when he comes home," she said.

Layton nodded. Miss Matthews smiled and walked back to the kitchen.

"I don't wanna be seeing _him _while we're trying to find this girl!" Luke cried once Miss Matthews was out of earshot.

"Luke calm yourself," Layton ordered. "Come now, let's go upstairs." Flora and Luke followed the professor up the stairs and into the hallway.

Looking around, Layton saw a picture of the Matthews hanging on the wall. There was a girl with black-purple hair tied in a braid with bangs handing low. She was smiling and waving. Layton presumed her to be Alex. Next to her was a dark-haired man with light blue eyes, a kind face, and lean build. He was probably Robert Matthews. Behind the two was Rachel Matthews. She was smiling and had her arms around Robert and Alex's shoulders. One happy family.

Luke and Flora noticed the picture, too. "Now we know what they all look like," Flora said. "Maybe that can help us find her."

Layton nodded absent mindedly and walked into Robert and Rachel's bedroom. Luke and Flora, of course, followed him in.

Sitting on the bed was Robert Matthews.

* * *

Next time:

_"Hey! What are you doing here?!" Luke shouted. "You're supposed to be at work!" Robert smiled. "I'm _supposed _to be. That doesn't mean I have to be. Rachel saw me go out the door, but I came in through the window." "What is the point in all that?" Flora asked. The man smiled again. "I have my reasons."_


	2. Chapter 2

Last time:

_Layton nodded absent mindedly and walked into Robert and Rachel's bedroom. Luke and Flora, of course, followed him in._

_Sitting on the bed was Robert Matthews._

****Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I cannot claim to own any of the persons, places, or objects in the Professor Layton series – all such persons, places, and objects are the property of their owner, Level 5 Inc****. Any resemblance to any real world persons, places, or things is coincidental.** **

* * *

**Professor Layton**

**and the**

**Secret of 420 Corolla Street **

* * *

"Hey! What are you doing here?!" Luke shouted. "You're supposed to be at work!"

Robert smiled. "I'm supposed to be. That doesn't mean I have to be. Rachel saw me go out the door, but I came back in through the window."

"What is the point in all that?" Flora asked.

The man smiled again. "I have my reasons." He took out a pocketknife from his pocket and flicked it open. He stood up and began advancing toward Layton and the two children.

Layton shoved Flora and Luke behind him. Why was , a refined gentleman of London, attacking them?

Layton's vision caused him to see Anton and Robert switching back-and-forth. His mind must have found this very similar to what happened in Folsense. He even almost found himself saying 'Anton! What is the meaning of all this?!'.

Suddenly, Robert fell to the floor laughing. He threw his knife like a spear. His laughter increased in volume as Layton, Luke, and Flora yelped and jumped out of the room. "Good choice!" he roared.

"What was that?!" Flora gasped. She leaned on the door and it clicked shut.

"_Not _Robert Matthews," Layton mumbled. Luke and Flora gave him odd looks. Layton sighed and went to the next room, where he hoped to have better luck in finding clues- not more mysteries.

They had found their way to Alex's room, which looked completely normal. A simple bed, dresser, and bookshelf were scattered about the room. Completely normal.

Of course, all except for the broken lamp, vase, and window.

Luke immediately took out his pad and wrote down _Broken: window, vase, and lamp_. He looked up from his writing and looked around the room some more. Something sticking out from under the pillow caught his eye. "Professah, what's that?" he asked. Flora walked toward the bed.

"It's a little piece of paper," she reported. Layton and Luke walked across the room and stood around Flora. "What does it say?" Luke asked.

Flora took the piece of paper out from under the pillow and unfolded. The three began reading:

_Unfortunate reader,_

_If you're reading this, you're either the police or the little brat's mom. Both of you have a whole lot of money… or information. If the lady's reading, meet me at the old factory a few blocks down with the location of your fortune and five hundred thousand pounds. If you're the cops, I want all the money you can give me. More than 500 grand. _

_Your culprit, __**DP**_

Layton finished reading first. "It seems as though Don Paolo is seeking out money yet again," Layton sighed. "We should probably show this to Mrs. Matthews right away."

"And he's not a good guy," Flora finished.

Layton, Luke, Flora, and Rachel were all sitting in the Matthews' parlor. Flora had told Rachel all about what happened upstairs. Including their strange encounter with Mr. Matthews.

Rachel broke down sobbing. Layton picked up, 'He wants it,' and 'Why Robert, why?!' between her tears.

"Madam, I know this is a large decision to make on such short notice, but what are you going to do?" Layton asked.

Rachel sniffed and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "I'm going to that factory."

The next day, five armed police officers from the Scotland Yard -including Inspector Chelmey and Barton- surrounded the old factory. Layton, Rachel, and Luke approached the rickety chairs and table. Flora stayed with the police.

A man with oddly pointy hair approached the three. A girl was handcuffed to the man.

"So you came…," the man laughed. He abruptly stopped as he noticed Layton. "A-ah! Layton!"

"Paolo," Layton replied flatly. The DP signed at the bottom of the note, rude way of speaking, and pointy hair gave it all away- not to mention the voice Layton had hear over the years.

Don took out a key from his pocket and unhandcuffed himself from the girl. He shoved her forward, and everyone gasped. Rachel almost screamed.

Alex Matthews was covered in bruises, cuts, scrapes… you name it. Her eyes were purple and black, thanks to lack of sleep and a black eye. She was remarkably skinny.

"Who does this!" Rachel screeched. "You're a monster!"

"I got bored," Paolo yawned lazily. "Now, you got the money?"

Rachel angrily pulled out a bulging bag with a piece of paper attached. "Take it," she growled. "The location is on the side. Take what you want."

"This better not be fake. I want that fortune," Don said. "And you know what I can do to get my way…"

"Professah, what fortune?" Luke whispered.

"I honestly have no clue, my boy," Layton murmured in reply.

Paolo shoved the girl farther and she ran over to her mother. Rachel murmured words of comfort to her daughter and cast dirty looks at Don as Alex whispered what had happened.

Layton stood up and began walking away, with Luke hot on his trail. The two ladies weren't far behind.

The police dispersed by twos and threes to their cars, relieved no shooting was to be done. Chelmey and Barton stayed behind.

"And that just add to the little devil's record," Chelmey snarled. Looking at Alex, he said, "Alright little missy, come with my back to the Yard and tell me what happened."

"With all due respect Inspector, but I think mister Layton should take it from here. He did notice the note, after all," Rachel said.

"I don't _care _who did what in this case, Don Paolo is a number one criminal and a have every right to know what happened!" Chelmey replied.

"Well, Mr. Inspector, I'll have you know…."

"Just _STOP IT_!" Alex screamed. "I'm tired of people fighting over me, treating me like I'm just a sack of potatoes that deserves to be hurt by freaky old men, and bartered with!" Alex's hands clenched and unclenched. Chelmey, Layton, Flora, Luke, and Rachel all started at her in surprise. "Look, I'll tell everyone what happened at home. I need to eat," she sighed. Rachel nodded and ushered her toward their car.

Layton, Flora, and Luke headed to the Laytonmobile. Chelmey and Barton walked off to their car.

Back at the Matthews' house, Robert ran to the door as the Inspector, professor, Barton, Layton, Luke, Flora, Rachel, and Alex all knocked on the door. "Alex!" he cried. "You're ok! I thought-"

"We're all going to figure out what's what soon enough, and what we all thought won't mean anything," Chelmey interrupted.

Everyone piled into the parlor and plopped onto couches and chairs. They all looked at Alex expectantly. She swallowed the bread she had been eating, took a breath, and began to speak.

"I was just sitting in bed, when some dude with a mask jumped through the window. I screamed, but before I could call for help he stuffed a wet rag that tasted really bad into my mouth. I guess it was drugged, 'cause I was out in a few seconds.

"When I woke up, I was in that old factory, handcuffed. That spiky hair guy came in and asked me why I was here. I told him to let me go and go commit suicide. He punched me in the face.

"He had a conversation with some guy the second day, and before he left for good, he came in and beat me up. It _really _hurt. I felt like a sack of potatoes that had misbehaved and needed to be punished. He threw me around, kicked me, threw me, punched me….

"He left after that, to some place. I just sat around all tied up and stuff. No one was there, except for my little rat friends.

"On the third day Spike Man came back. He untied me and I got happy, thinking he was gonna bring me back home. Instead he handcuffed me to him and shoved me out the door, where you traded me for money _and _the fortune," the girl finished. She took a bite of cheese and lay back on the chair_. "_It_ really _sucked," she added.

Chelmey and Luke both put away their pads. Chelmey stood up. "Thank you, we should be going now," he said. "Barton!"

"Yes sir!" Barton exclaimed. The two walked out the door, and they could hear the door slamming and the whirr of a car engine.

The wide-eyed Luke and Flora stood up and Layton said, "Yes, we should be going as well. Good day, madams."

"So what are you thinking happened, Professor?" Flora asked as they stepped outside.

Layton sighed. "That is not a fortune of money, and I honestly have no idea why Paolo is going to horribly extreme measures to get something he probably won't care about."

* * *

Next time:

_"Well than, what do you think it is?" Flora asked. "And who was that person Don Paolo talked to before hur- leaving?"_

_Layton sighed. "There is a realm of possibilities for answers to those questions. But, I already have a hunch of what the answer is. Follow me."_


	3. Chapter 3

Last time:

_ "So what are you thinking happened, Professor?" Flora asked as they stepped outside._

_ Layton sighed. "That is not a fortune of money, and I honestly have no idea why Paolo is going to horribly extreme measures to get something he probably won't care about."_

Well than, what do you think it is?" Flora asked. "And who was that person Don Paolo talked to before hur- leaving?"

Layton said, "There is a realm of possibilities for answers to those questions. But, I already have a hunch of what the answer is. Follow me."

Layton led the children back home, where they got into the Laytonmoblie and sped off toward Matthews' Publishing Co.

The professor, Luke, and Flora walked into the extremely fancy building and toward the receptionist.

"Hello madam…" Layton began.

"Do you have an appointment?" the receptionist cut off monotonously. She sat there at the desk and applied makeup. She hadn't even _looked _at Layton this whole time. If she had, she would have noticed that he was her old teacher at college.

Layton had recognized her the second they walked in. But he didn't bother to bring it up. "No, just a question," Layton replied. Being the gentleman he was, he ignored her rude interruption as well.

"Well, make it quick," the receptionist yawned. "There's an eleven thirty we can't miss."

Layton gave an appreciative smile and asked, "Did Mr. Matthews come into the office in the past two days?"

The receptionist laughed and picked up a clip board. "Look back at the dates. Of course Robert came in! This is his business! He's gotta come here every day!"

Layton took the clipboard and looked back at the two days, May 29 and 30. Sure enough, Robert Matthews was signed in fancy script on both days. And it was about to be signed again.

"A-ah! Layton!" Robert cried. "What are you doing here? Do you have an appointment?"

"No, but we were just leaving. And you helped me to see something else. Good day, sir," and with a tip of his hat, Layton and the children were gone.

"What good was that, professor?" Flora asked. "Mr. Matthews was at work two days ago! Accept-"

You see it too, Flora my dear," Layton smiled. "_We _saw Mr. Matthews at his house, and yet he came into work that morning. We know we saw Robert, because we saw his picture on the wall just a few seconds earlier. And that signature is in many books of my students. It's very hard to forage, as Robert uses extremely fancy script. The Robert we saw at the house was an imposter- but who?"

There was silence as they walked back to the Laytonmoblie. All of them came up with theories, but they could either quickly toss them aside or they had no backbone. But back at the professor's house, they all had one general idea that made perfect sense.

"Don Paolo," the three said as they stepped into the parlor.

"He's always trying to kill you, so the whole dagger thing makes perfect sense!" Luke chimed in.

"And he looked pretty angry when we all came back with Alex. But he was good at hiding it," Flora added.

"Yes, but _why_?" Layton sighed. "What good will that do hi- unless…" Layton trailed off. "We need to figure out at what times Robert was Robert and Robert was Don Paolo," Layton ordered. There was silence, accept for Luke's pacing feet

During lunch, the three detectives-in-training told what they had discovered while digging through their memories.

"The first time we saw Robert was _definitely _Don Paolo," Flora said. She took another bite of her sandwich.

"And when we saw him back at the Matthews' house, he was Robert, because we had just seen Don Paolo at the old factory," Luke said with a mouthful of sandwich. Layton gave him a look at Luke sheepishly swallowed. "Sorry."

Flora scampered upstairs for her notepad and came back down. She wrote _Robert=At work, house after factory Don Paolo= At house and at factory_

Luke wrote the same thing down in his pad and looked up at the professor. "What do we do now?" the wide-eyed boy asked.

"We should go back to the Matthews' house and tell them what we have discovered. I believe Robert was some explaining to do.

The trio walked this time, because it was not morning and they were more in the mood now They felt content and had a sense of self-accomplishment discovering that Don Paolo had been disguising as Robert.

Luke and Flora found the door was unlocked and without waiting for Layton to catch up, they walked in.

The house was empty, except for Alex huddled in a blanket on a chair near the door, asleep. But not for long.

"RAHR! You nasty kidnapper, leave now or I'm calling the Yard!" Alex cried.

Luke and Flora laughed. "Alex, it's us. We helped you get away from Paolo," Flora giggled.

Layton walked into the open door. "Sorry to have frightened you," he said. He was close enough behind Luke and Flora he had heard her threat.

Alex blushed. "Sorry as well, professor. And thank you. If I stayed with that freak any longer, I would have died. You three saved my life."

"Alex, can we talk to your mom and dad? And call the Yard anyway? There's something very important we need to tell them. It can't wait, or it could put you and your mother in more danger," Flora requested.

Alex nodded. "I'll go wake up Mother and Dad. You can use the phone in the kitchen." With that, she disappeared into the shadows of the house and they could hear her creaking footsteps going up the stairs.

Layton walked into the kitchen and called the Scotland Yard.

Scotland Yard," A gruff voice answered. "Inspector Chelmey here. What do you want?"

"Good evening, inspector. It's me, Hershel Layton. We have figured something out on behalf of Alex Matthews being captured. We need you at their house now. It's urgent.

Chelmey grumbled. "Fine. But you owe me." The line went dead.

Alex shuffled back down the stairs, her mother and father trailing behind her.

A knock was heard at the door and Alex went off to get it. She gave Inspector Chelmey and Barton a half smile and led them inside.

"Alright, I came here because of information on the girl's kidnapping. Let's get on with it," Chelmey grunted.

Layton nodded and looked at Robert as the professor began talking. Robert looked around uneasily, shifting on his feet.

We all know what happened a few nights ago, but no one knows why or how…."


End file.
